Apparatus for automatically weighing and totalizing the production time intervals of a plurality of different weight categories of cigarettes during manufacture

Claim 1

IN A CIGARETTE MAKER, MEANS FOR AUTOMATICALLY WEIGHING ALL CIGARETTES MANUFACTURED IN THE MAKER AND MEANS FOR TOTALIZING THE RESPECTIVE PRODUCTION TIME INTERVALS DEVOTED TO THE MANUFACTURE OF ALL CIGARETTES IN EACH ONE OF A PLURALITY OF DIFFERENT PREDETERMINED WEIGHT CATEGORIES, SAID WEIGHING MEANS INCLUDING A RADIATION-TYPE DENSITY MEASURING HEAD AND CIRCUIT MEANS CONNECTED THERETO FOR GENERATING A MEASURING VOLTAGE RELATED IN AMPLITUDE TO THE AMOUNT OF TOBACCO IN EACH OF THE CIGARETTES ISSUING FROM THE MAKER, AN ELECTRICALLY OPERATED ELAPSED-TIME INDICATOR FOR EACH WEIGHT CATEGORY, A SEPARATE SWITCH MEANS FOR ENERGIZING EACH INDICATOR, AND SEPARATE SWITCH OPERATING MEANS FOR EACH OF SAID SEPARATE SWITCHES, EACH OF SAID SWITCH OPERATING MEANS HAVING A SEPARATE CONTROL INPUT CONNECTED AT ALL TIMES TO THE MEASURING VOLTAGE GENERATING CIRCUIT IN PARALLEL WITH EACH OF THE OTHER CONTROL INPUTS, EACH OF SAID SWITCH OPERATING MEANS BEING SELECTIVELY OPERABLE BY SAID MEASURING VOLTAGE AND EACH HAVING A PREDETERMINED DIFFERENT THRESHOLD OPERATING VOLTAGE CORRESPONDING TO A SEPARATE ONE OF EACH OF SAID PREDETERMINED WEIGHT CATEGORIES.